Sergio Perez will reportedly be replaced by Alex Albon at Red Bull for the 2025 season in another dramatic F1 development. Perez, 34, had been negotiating with team bosses over the possibility of a contract extension, but the future of the Mexican now appears to have been decided for him.
F1 pundit Peter Windsor has claimed that Albon, who drove for Christian Horner’s team in 2019 and 2020 before being demoted to the role of test driver, will make a surprise return to partner Max Verstappen: “As I understand it, Albon has been offered a 3-year contract by Red Bull to start in 2025,” he said on his YouTube channel.
“So I think you are going to see him alongside Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. I can’t imagine he is going to say no to it. As I understand it’s not a 100% but 90% correct.”
Albon was promoted to the grid with the Austrian-British outfit in 2019 after starting the season with development team Toro Rosso, racing 12 times. He maintained his seat for the following year, twice finishing on the podium en route to a seventh-placed finish in the drivers’ standings.
After a year in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, he signed for Williams in 2021, but amassed just four points in a difficult campaign. But he improved significantly last year, taking 29 points with seven top-10 finishes.
As for Perez, the news is now likely to make him a candidate to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, with the seven-time world champion joining Ferrari at the end of the year. That’s despite finishing second behind teammate Verstappen last season, and helping Horner and co to a second successive constructors’ title.
But a title challenge of his own failed to materialise, despite signalling his ambitions after winning two of the opening four Grand Prix races. And his frosty relationship with Verstappen has been under the spotlight ever since the Dutchman defied team orders and refused to give up his place to ‘Checo’ in the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2022.
An angry Perez said over team radio that Verstappen had “shown his true colours,” although Horner later denied talk of a rift between the pair. But after his win at Saudi Arabia last year, Verstappen’s dad Jos noticeably declined to congratulate Perez when the pair came face-to-face afterwards.
Perez, however, will now face a fight for a top seat with Carlos Sainz Jnr also set to be available. After Hamilton’s announcement on Friday, the Spaniard confirmed he would be leaving Ferrari to make way for the British driver.
As for Wolff, he is now set to lose a potential option if Albon does indeed head to Red Bull. The 27-year-old has been touted to move to the Silver Arrows and reunite with former Williams team-mate George Russell but it appears the Mercedes boss won’t even be able to consider him an option anymore.
